Berkley Center

Jeffrey Feltman serves as the under-secretary-general for political affairs at the United Nations, advising the secretary-general on global peace and security issues and overseeing initiatives relating to these issues in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. He also oversees the United Nations electoral assistance provided to its member states each year. Before joining the United Nations, Feltman served for nearly 30 years in the United States Foreign Service, focusing on the Middle East and North Africa. His last position was as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. Feltman served previously as United States ambassador to the Republic of Lebanon and held a variety of earlier diplomatic postings, coordinating U.S. assistance to countries of Eastern and Central Europe. He received his bachelor’s degree in history and fine arts from Ball State University and his master's degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Susan Hayward is a specialist on religion, peace, and human rights and a research fellow at the Georgetown University Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. From 2007 to 2021, she worked with the Religion and Inclusive Societies team at the U.S. Institute of Peace, partnering with faith-based and religious actors worldwide to transform violence and advance just peace with a particular focus on Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Colombia. In this role, she also sought to strengthen religious literacy within U.S. foreign policy and global diplomacy, partnering with the State Department, USAID, and the European Union, among others. From 2020 to 2023, Hayward supported the establishment and development of the Religion and Public Life program at Harvard Divinity School, building a graduate level certificate program for students seeking careers to advance religious literacy for just peace in vocations such as policymaking, humanitarian action, and organizing.

Cameron Hudson is the director of the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where he previously served as policy director. From 2009 to 2011, he served as the chief of staff in the Office of the President’s Special Envoy for Sudan during South Sudan’s separation from Sudan. From 2005 to 2009, he served as the director for African affairs on the staff of the National Security Council, where he led efforts to address the genocide in Darfur, elections-related violence in Kenya, counter-terrorism efforts in Somalia, and the Lord’s Resistance Army in the Great Lakes region. He has also worked for the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the International Organization on Migration in the former Yugoslavia. He has an undergraduate degree in foreign affairs, economics, and French from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree focused on development economics from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Mark P. Lagon is chief policy officer at Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He is also adjunct professor, Centennial Fellow, and Distinguished Senior Scholar in Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. Lagon previously was president of Freedom House and served as U.S. ambassador-at-large, directing the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Kim Lawton is managing editor and correspondent for the national public television program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly on PBS, where she oversees news coverage, appears as a regular on-air correspondent, and also provides exclusive content for program’s website. She is a reporter, producer, writer, and editor who has worked in broadcast and print media focusing on coverage of religion, ethics, and culture. Lawton is a frequent commentator on issues of faith and spirituality, appearing on outlets including MSNBC, CNN, and the BBC. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications including the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She received her B.A. from Messiah College in communications and journalism.

Tom Malinowski currently serves as the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor. Previously, he was the Washington director for Human Rights Watch, an independent international human rights organization. From 1998 to 2001, he served as senior director on the National Security Council at the White House, where he oversaw the drafting of President Bill Clinton’s foreign policy speeches and strategic communications efforts around the world. From 1994 to 1998, he was a speechwriter for secretaries of state Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright, as well as a member of the policy planning staff at the Department of State. In 1993, Malinowski worked as a research assistant for the Ford Foundation and, in 1992, for the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, Austria. Malinowski received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and M.Phil. from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.